Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Open letter to The Sun

Dear David Dinsmore,

I am writing this letter as follow up to one that my
incredibly brave friend Sarah Perry sent to you. As yet, I don’t believe she
has had a response from you.

I met Sarah through on online forum for younger women
with breast cancer. I am 32 years old and I was diagnosed with breast cancer
almost eight weeks ago. In fact, Sarah and I were diagnosed on the same day.

Today is Check ‘em Tuesday. It is also the day of my second
chemotherapy session. I will spend over two hours having a combination of drugs
injected into my body that will hopefully kill off my cancer. However, the
drugs will kill off other fast growing cells within my body, and side effects
include digestive problems. nausea, vomiting, hair loss, possible loss of
fertility and increased risk of infection to name just a few. My months of
chemotherapy sessions will be followed by surgery to remove part or all of my
breast.

I have always been a supporter of the No More Page 3
campaign andfeel that such an outdated,
sexist feature has no place within a family newspaper. It tells women that
their place and value in society depends on their age and looks and sends the
message to men that women’s bodies are readily available for their consumption.

However, as a young woman whose body is about to undergo
significant changes, of which some are temporary and some are permanent, due to
the cancer in my body, I feel all the more strongly about your use of this disease
as a way of justifying the continued existence of Page 3. I feel it is an
insult to all women currently fighting the disease and those who have survived
it to use this feature that has so long been there purely for the sexual
titillation of men to promote ‘breast cancer awareness’. You have effectively sexualised
this disease, which is as far from the reality as possible. It is a life
changing, terrifying experience which involves gruelling treatment - a very
long way from being ‘sexy’.

We know you understand the arguments against Page 3, Dave
Dinsmore, and at heart you realise that it is an out dated institution. The No
More Page 3 petition now has over 200,000 signatures and the campaign has support
from an overwhelming amount of organisations and individuals. From the
perspective of those who support the campaign, and are suffering through breast
cancer treatment, it seems that linking Page 3 with breast cancer awareness is
a last ditch attempt to try and justify its existence. After all, in theory who
could argue with the promotion of breast cancer awareness? However, the use of
topless models and the sexualisation of the disease is something that many
others and I strongly disagree with. I find it abhorrent.

Let me make very clear that I have no issue at all with
the charity Coppafeel and nothing written here is aimed at them. I was aware of
Coppafeel long before your association with them, and I think Kristin Hallenga
is an incredibly inspiring young woman. It was actually her story that
persuaded me to go back to the doctors for the third time with the lump that I
had found in my breast.

So perhaps instead of using topless models to promote
breast cancer awareness, why not run stories on some of the incredibly brave
women who are currently fighting breast cancer or who have survived it? I can give you suggestions on where to start.
The forum that I met Sarah Perry on has introduced me to some of the most
wonderful, strongest young women I could ever have hoped to meet.

Raising awareness of breast cancer – how to check
yourself, what to look for and not to be fobbed off by doctors when you find
something concerning you is invaluable. All women need to learn this. I have
learnt this the hard way.

I can’t help but feel that if you really cared about
raising awareness of breast cancer, you would do it as a separate feature,
without the involvement of Page 3. With this association, it feels that you
have reduced breast cancer to a fluffy, sexy gimmick.

So please do carry on with your work with Coppafeel,
however out of respect for the thousands of strong, brave women who have and
have had breast cancer, please lift yourself and your publication out of the
gutter, and leave the topless models out of it.